Tales of the Groundbound: Two Eggs in a Basket, Chapter 7

[steuben]

Chapter 7

Walt Kerman stood at the launch pad. He watched the technicians doing the last minute checks on the rocket. It didn’t look like exactly like a rocket. Sure it had the long narrow shape, fins at the bottom, and a pointed nose. But, the set of fins at the top broke the lines.

“They add authority when she’s coming back,” one of the engineers had said. “They’ll help her shed speed during maneuvers in the middle and lower atmosphere.”

“Maneuvers; more like tumbling out of control,” he thought after watching from inside the simulator.

Then there was the reporting name for the design series, Basket. “You package up the passengers like eggs and they get home safe,” the design engineer had said.  “And you carry eggs in a basket, right? Besides using ‘Carton’ as a name sounds like something out of a Saturday morning serial.”

He watched the techs leave the ship like a receding wave. Three of them remained, anonymous in their yellow hazmat suits. Walt flipped up his helmet and sealed his suit. The three pulled a hose off the truck that had driven up. The driver sat nervously in the cab. The hose was attached to the rocket and the truck. There was a small red cloud that quickly dissipated, as a pump was turned on. He shuddered. He heard that that stuff would dissolve a kerbal to his bones, and maybe beyond.

They unhooked the hose in another small red cloud. The hose was put back on the truck and it drove off. Another truck drove up. The techs opened up the hoods of their suits. They hooked up another hose to the rocket. Walt undid the seals on his suit. The smell of kerosene began to seep in. He flipped back the hood of his suit as the techs fueled the rocket.

He looked towards the kerbonaut complex. An open jeep with four kerbals drove towards the launchpad. Walt frowned. The two passengers on this flight were kerbals of wealth and influence. All the kerbals slated for the several first passenger flights were. But, how many would tolerate even the short run in the jeep? These two were adventurers, the ones who told those slightly fantastic stories at parties. Discomfort was part of the adventure. Should it be? He would have to talk to Mortimer about upgrading some of the facilities.

“Hey Walt,” one of the passengers, Calley, called as he walked over after getting out of the jeep. “See you at the Plant in an hour.”

“Sure thing, Calley,” Walt said back. The Fuel Plant was the favoured . Jebediah waved with his helmet as he walked by. He was whistling “The Air Force Song.”

“There goes our pilot,” Calley said. He clapped Walt on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. Succeed or fail, it’ll be a heck of ride.” He dashed off to the waiting crew.

Walt walked back to his jeep. He sat down. He rested his chin on his hands on the steering wheel; watching the last of the preparations. He knew it would fly true. It was different having passengers. Crews knew the risk. They saw it every day. They accepted that the risk would go bad someday. Walt worried about the day it went bad with passengers along for the ride.

Edited February 15, 2017 by steuben